Sabres at Capitals preview

SABRES (20-10-5) at CAPITALS (20-10-3)
7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS, NBCSWA, NHL.TV

Ovechkin leads the NHL with 29 goals. He can join Mike Gartner (15) as the only players to score at least 30 goals in each of their first 14 NHL seasons. Ovechkin has 10 goals in his past seven games and 23 points (17 goals, six assists) in his past 15.
The Capitals are 5-1-0 in their past six games and 12-3-0 in their past 15. They have scored at least four goals in nine of their past 11 games.
Buffalo forward Sam Reinhart will try to extend the NHL's longest active point streak to 12 games. He has five goals and 13 assists during his 11-game streak, the longest of his NHL career.
Buffalo is 3-1-1 after a five-game losing streak (0-3-2) and lost 4-3 at Washington in a shootout last Saturday.

Players to watch

Sabres forward Jack Eichel has nine goals and five assists during a seven-game point streak.
Capitals goalie Braden Holtby is 3-1-0 with a 2.23 goals-against average, a .926 save percentage and one shutout in his past four starts.

They said it

"We had an opportunity to win a game, so I think that breeds a lot of confidence within our group. But we know it's going to be a difficult task." -- Sabres coach Phil Housley on playing Washington twice in a week
"I personally as a coach like seeing a team quick like that. But it doesn't happy very often, so it presents a little bit of a different challenge." -- Capitals coach Todd Reirden on playing the Sabres twice in a week

Sabres projected lineup

Jeff Skinner -- Jack Eichel -- Sam Reinhart
Conor Sheary - Vladimir Sobotka -- Evan Rodrigues
Zemgus Girgensons -- Casey Mittelstadt -- Kyle Okposo
Remi Elie -- Johan Larsson -- Tage Thompson
Rasmus Dahlin -- Zach Bogosian
Lawrence Pilut -- Rasmus Ristolainen
Marco Scandella -- Jake McCabe
Carter Hutton
Linus Ullmark
Scratched:Brendan Guhle, Matt Hunwick
Injured:Jason Pominville (undisclosed), Nathan Beaulieu (upper body), Casey Nelson (upper body), Scott Wilson (ankle)

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- T.J. Oshie
Jakub Vrana -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson
Andre Burakovsky -- Lars Eller -- Brett Connolly
Chandler Stephenson -- Nic Dowd - Devante Smith-Pelly
Michal Kempny -- John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov -- Matt Niskanen
Jonas Siegenthaler -- Madison Bowey
Braden Holtby
Pheonix Copley
Scratched:Dmitrij Jaskin, Travis Boyd, Tyler Lewington
Injured:Christian Djoos (leg), Brooks Orpik (knee)

Status report

The Sabres did not hold a morning skate. McCabe (lower body) and Pilut (upper body) practiced Thursday and could return after missing nine and three games, respectively. Wilson was on the ice with the team for the first time since his surgery in October. … Burakovsky will dress after being a healthy scratch the past eight games.

Stat pack

Skinner has five goals and four assists during n a seven-game point streak. … Ovechkin needs one power-play goal to pass Brendan Shanahan (237) for sole possession of sixth place on NHL all-time lis